Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 19, Number 32, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 24 December 1897 — Poppets Made of Gingerbread. [ARTICLE]

Poppets Made of Gingerbread.

The city of Amsterdam claims St. Nicholas as its patron saint, and during the first week of December confectioners’ shops throughout the city display one special delicacy called “St. Nicholas cake,” of which large quantities are sold at this season. “Men” and “women” made of this crisp, brown cake, or gingerbread, can be bought in different sizes and at all prices. These sweet creatures tyre often called “sweethearts” (“vrijers” we say in Dutch), and the girls receive a “man,” the boys a “woman.” t remember quite well what fun it used to be to hear the servant come in with: “If you please, ma’am, here is Miss Annie’s sweetheart” —and hand a gingerbread man to my mother.